Inside The Bills

While Texas A&M QB Ryan Tannehill’s draft stock reportedly soars with some suspecting he’s a lock now for the top 5, there’s a player on the defensive side of the ball making a move up according to national draft analysts. Most NFL GMs will tell you no one moves up or down a draft board at this point in the draft process unless there’s a major tragedy, but this cornerback’s value might be improved by virtue of a couple of the cornerbacks on front of him.

South Carolina’s Stephon Gilmore was widely considered a second-round prospect early in the draft process. Then he tested well at the Combine and his stock reportedly went up. But there was more to it than just a fast 40 time (4.40) and big vertical (36″).

“I gave him a second round Gilmore on initial tape and watched more tape recently of the last month fo the season and the bowl game. I thought he continued to get better,” said ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay. “I don’t have as high a grade on him as some. I think part of it is the need for cornerbacks. The fact that the second and third best corners in this draft in Janoris Jenkins and Dre Kirkpatrick have a lot of question marks. And with Gilmore you don’t have any question marks.

“When you watch him on tape he’s not the most instinctive all the time and he plays a lot of off coverage. There are some areas of his game that he’s going to have to improve in terms of his technique. But he’s very good at reading routes when everything is in front of him. A big hitter for cornerback. Physical, quick feet, fast, can recover, gets high in his pedal at times. Things he needs to work on with his mechanics, but when you look at all the things he can do, the fact that he has good ball skills, good speed and worked out so well I think that’s why Gilmore is starting to move up.”

Some draft prognosticators have him going as high as the 20’s in the first round. For teams desperate to fill a cornerback need and don’t want to swing and miss on a Janoris Jenkins, Gilmore could easily appear to be a sensible alternative.